HMS Dreadnought's twenty-seven 12-pounder guns and five 18-inch torpedo launchers show that even an all-big-gun battleship retained weapons for close threats. The 12-pounders answered flotilla attack. In this interpretation, torpedoes gave a badly damaged battleship a chance to strike back at an attacker closing for the kill. A small disruptive weapon prompted a countermeasure, which in turn pushed the attacker toward greater size and speed. Modern drones provide another example of this cycle of responses.
Notable Point · 30:50-33:31
Flotilla threats drive a cycle of bigger and better-protected ships
Capital ships answered torpedo-boat threats with quick-firing guns, while attackers grew larger and faster to survive the new defences.